Hillbilly Hoax: Buyer Doesn’t Pay

After riding high on the wave of publicity following the nearly $10-million eBay bid for his version of the iconic “General Lee” late last week, former “Dukes of Hazzard” star John Schneider may be feeling “lower than a snake’s belly in a wagon rut” today.

According to a widely circulated Associated Press article, the winning bid appears to be a hoax and may lead to a legal tussle that may just require the services of good ol’ Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane to sort out.

“If this guy was just doing it as a prank or to ruin someone else’s chances,
he deserves to be hit in the pocketbook,” Allen Stockman, who runs the
former television star’s estate, told the AP.

Despite a recommendation made by eBay officials that he only accept
pre-qualified bidders who could prove that they had the ability to pay, Stockman said that he simply didn’t have to time to complete the credit or background checks.

Repeated attempts to contact the winning bidder, identified by his eBay account as William Fisher, or “fishbashr1,” have proved unsuccessful.

As of Thursday evening, nobody had stepped forward to explain why the top bidder appears to have failed to honor his final bid. Not that any real explanation is required in light of the fact that industry experts were left scratching their collective heads following the astronomical bid.

The auction for Schneider’s 1969 Dodge Charger closed around 1 p.m. Friday, May 4, and was viewed by more than 1 million potential bidders.

While this particular car only made a brief appearance in the television series “The Dukes of Hazzard,” the modified Charger, with the distinction of being owned by the actor who portrayed Bo Duke in the original series, was used in the 2000 TV movie “The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood.”

Far from being a stock ’69 Charger, John Schneider’s car currently has a 511-cid crate engine under its hood that produces approximately 725 hp of stump-yanking muscle, Dodge Viper brake system and a custom roll cage. True to its dust-churning image, this car was personally driven by Schneider in a number of road rallies and celebrity races.

If Waylon Jennings, who provided the voice-overs for the TV series, were still alive and kicking today, he might just say “Bo’s plan to sell the
‘General Lee’ is working ’bout as well as a $2 watch on a rainy day.”

Mr. Schneider, who is selling the car to fund a follow up to his
limited-release movie “Collier & Co.,” reportedly plans to list his version of the “General Lee” with a conventional auction company that screens buyers.

Appropriately, the winning bidder was given a negative rating in eBay’s feedback forum.